Help with wiring on factory driving light switch | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Help with wiring on factory driving light switch

Hey all, I have a 97 exp sport that didn't have factory driving lights. I bought a set of aftermarket lights and mounted them to my brushguard and wired them up with a relay. I bought a new radio bezel that has the driving light switch from ebay and asked that a "pigtail" for the driving light switch come with it. I have looked at wiring diagrams but don't really know how the factory switch works. I am just trying to put the factory switch in place of the toggle switch that came with the kit for a cleaner look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!:burnout:
 



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Hey all, I am just trying to put the factory switch in place of the toggle switch that came with the kit for a cleaner look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!:burnout:

How are you doing with this ?
 






He needs help like I do hooking up the wiring harness that's a "typical" harness to a factory fog light switch.
 






I'm still waiting to see if anyone has ever done this. I've tried wiring the switch every way i can think of, but it won't work. I can get it to work with a toggle switch i got from autozone, but not with the factory switch.
 






well im looking at the wiring diagram and it looks like there should be 4 wires on the factory switch

light blue/black
tan/orange
black
red/black

the tan/orange should get power from the fog lamp relay to power the lamp inside the switch. red/black needs to go to ground to make the lamp function.

then there is the light blue/black. this is supposed to be on the negative side of the low voltage side of the relay. so i believe thats terminal 86 of a relay.

then black goes to ground

so the switch should be something like

lb/bk to 86 on relay
black to ground
tan/orange to 30 on the relay (30 also goes to the fog lights)
red/black to ground

then the relay should be

85 to fused power source
86 to lb/bk
87 to fused power source
30 to tan/orange and fog lights.




hope that works out.
 






I'll give this a shot and let ya know if it works. Thanks I appreciate it.
 






I'll give this a shot and let ya know if it works. Thanks I appreciate it.

yeah let me know...im curious to see if im reading the diagram right. :rolleyes:
 






After 3 days and a burned up fog light switch, I have finally figured out the wiring on the factory fog light switch and fog lights.

My Explorer didn't come with fog lights, and I tried to figure out the wiring before tearing into the radio bezel as I was painting a replacement radio bezel with the factory fog light switch. I got my radio bezel and all of the switches from a junkyard for $30, and after much frustration with trying to figure out the wiring for the factory switch, I decided to use a toggle switch, but also have the factory fog light switch just for looks (until I could figure out the wiring). I decided to check all of the switches from the junkyard to see if all the lights would work, or if I would have to change the rear wiper and defroster switch out with my existing (I did have to use my originals). When I tore into my radio bezel, that is when I saw that my Explorer had a fog light wiring harness attached to the radio bezel. The fog light switch was just a case with no innards or switch, but the wiring was all there. I had already attached my fog lights (OEM from dealer, not aftermarket), but didn't notice any wiring harnesses in the bumper for them. This was great, as I now could figure out which wire did what since it was already wired. If only I would have taken my radio bezel apart sooner.

Here are the results, along with how the fog lights should be hooked up to work with the factory switch, which is different than using an aftermarket toggle switch (obviously):

Relay:
30 - 15 amp fused power (to battery)
85 - 10 amp fused power (to park lights -AND- red/black)
86 - 10 amp fused power (to light blue/black)
87 - fog lights (positive side of bulb) -AND- 10 amp fused power (to tan/orange)

Factory fog light switch:
light blue/black - fog light power (to Relay 86)
red/black - park light power (to park light power source -AND- Relay 85)
black - ground
tan/orange - fog light "On" power (to Relay 87)

It seems you can hook relay 85 and relay 86 to factory switch light blue/black and red/black in any order, as they both work exactly the same, and need each other in order to complete the circuit (relay 85 to red/black and relay 86 to light blue/black -OR- relay 85 to light blue/black and relay 86 to red/black). Factory switch red/black is the power source for the fog lights to come on. If you attach red/black to the battery, the fog lights will always be on, even with the key off, which means you will have to switch them off every time you leave the vehicle. Wiring red/black to an ignition wire will have them come on only when the key is turned on, no matter what position the fog light switch or headlight switch is in. Wiring red/black to the park lights will have them come on when the park lights are turned on, key position doesn't matter.

So here is how I finalized the wiring. Since my fog light wiring harness was already wired into the stock location, I did not have to run wires from the switch to there respective locations, I only needed to splice into the existing wiring. I will explain as if you have to run your fog light switch wires from scrap (like I will have to do with my Ranger):

Relay 30 - to battery
Relay 85 - to fog light switch red/black -AND- from fog light switch red/black to park light wire (if you don't have a park light wire close by, splice it into the headlight switch, which is also red/black)
Relay 86 - to fog light switch light blue/black
Relay 87 - to fog lights -AND- to fog light switch tan/orange
Fog Light Switch black wire - to ground

If you have existing fog light wiring, hook it up this way (same as above, but you don't have to run the fog light switch wiring):

Relay 30 - to battery
Relay 85 - splice into fog light switch red/black
Relay 86 - splice into fog light switch light blue/black
Relay 87 - to fog lights, splice wire from fog lights to fog light switch tan/orange

Remember to always fuse any power wires, even if you splice into an existing wire.
 






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